The Union Territory administration in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has completed the demarcation work of the lithium reserves site spread in an area of around three square kilometre in the Salal-Haimna area of Reasi district.
On the other hand the revenue department has also completed the task of creating lists of habitations, plantations and other assets falling within these demarcated limits.
According to official sources, a total number of 326 houses have been identified besides other installations in the region. During the survey the revenue authorities have also demarcated 3,929 kanals of private land, 16,715 kanals of forest land and 269 kanals of UT’s land in the region.
Amit Sharma, Secretary to Government, Mining Department, J&K, on Saturday visited the lithium reserves site in Reasi to take first hand account of the area and hold a review of the progress made on this behalf by the district administration.
He said a process has been initiated towards appointing a transaction advisor and auction platform to carry forward extraction process for this potentially rich reserves of lithium to the tune of 5.9 million tonnes, second highest in the world.
He said the UT administration led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Secretary are looking forward to taking the next steps for Lithium extraction in Reasi at the earliest.
Director Geology & Mining OP Bhagat, Joint Director Jammu HL Langeh, District Mineral Officer Reasi Shafiq Ahmed, Tehsildar, Naib Tehsildar, Sarpanches, Naib Sarpanches and other prominent citizens of the area were present on the spot.
During his brief interaction with the local residents of the area the villagers requested visiting Secretary Mining to ensure that fair compensation is paid to the persons whose assets are coming within the zone of lithium reserves. In response Sharma assured that all care and due diligence shall be shown by the concerned authorities, including Deputy Commissioner Reasi and her team for ensuring it.
Later, secretary Sharma led a brainstorming meeting along with DC Reasi Babila Rakwal and Director Geology & Mining with district officers of different departments to know about the progress made regarding assets identification so that this process goes-on parallel while Government is finalising RR plans towards extraction of this strategic mineral Lithium alongwith deciding towards setting-up metallurgy plants for bringing out the end finished product through SEZ for manufacturing plants in Reasi as an end-to-end solution in this domain. It is expected that the discovery of Lithium in J&K can boost-up the UT economy exponentially as well as provide ample employment opportunities to the jobless local youth.